Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki pledged to maintain law and order throughout Iraq yesterday, days after a security crackdown in Amara wrestled control of the southern city from the hands of Shi'ite militias.
Iraqi forces have swept through Amara and the surrounding province of Maysan, seizing heavy weapons and arresting wanted men in an operation aiming to stamp government authority on an area where Shi'ite gunmen had exerted considerable influence.
The Amara operation was the latest Mr Maliki has ordered in the past four months to impose order on areas once under the control of Shi'ite gunmen or Sunni Arab al Qaeda insurgents.
Speaking on a visit to Amara, Mr Maliki said Diyala province north of Baghdad would be next. A female suicide bomber killed 15 people in the Diyala capital Baquba on Sunday in an attack that bore the hallmarks of al Qaeda.
"We will not stop using force against those who revolt against the will of the nation," Mr Maliki told local tribal leaders in a speech broadcast live on state television.
"Military forces will not withdraw from (Amara) until we make sure the criminals and killers can never come back again."
Supporters of anti-American Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr accuse the government of targeting their movement in the Amara operation, which was launched last Thursday.
Security forces have met no resistance from Cleric Sadr's Mehdi Army militia, which has been under orders from the cleric to cooperate. Many residents have said they feel safer since the offensive involving thousands of Iraqi soldiers got under way.
But followers of Cleric Sadr say they were singled out. Amara's mayor Rafea Abdul-Jabbar, a Sadr supporter, was detained, along with other Sadrist officials.
Mr Maliki denied going after Cleric Sadr's supporters just because of their political affiliation.
"We're not taking a negative stance against any political party or person. Everyone has the right to say ... what he wants, but he cannot infringe the freedom of others," he said.
Mr Maliki said all the various security operations needed to be seen as a unified effort to restore order to Iraq.
"Security in Iraq is one entity, whether it's in Amara, Mosul or Baghdad. The government is responsible for imposing security on every inch of Iraqi territory," he said.
The peaceful execution of the raid against Shi'ite militias in Amara contrasts with earlier operations in Baghdad and the southern city of Basra, which met fierce resistance from Cleric Sadr's Mehdi Army in weeks of fighting until truces restored calm. In the northern city of Mosul, Iraqi forces intensified an offensive last month against Sunni Arab al Qaeda militants, who regrouped there last year after being pushed out of former strongholds in Baghdad and Iraq's western Anbar province.
Iraqi officials say that crackdown has so far been a success, with the group's network in Mosul largely dismantled.
US forces have carried out a series of offensives this year in Diyala, a multi-ethnic province once seen as an al Qaeda haven. Mr Maliki did not elaborate on what he had planned.
"Our forces will be in Diyala... to complete the operation of repelling remnants of al-Qaeda from its pockets," he said.
Mr Maliki has been criticised in the past for lacking resolve to stabilise Iraq - especially in cracking down on fellow Shi'ites. But he has gained a measure of respect at home and abroad for recent offensives.
In separate violence, one US soldier was killed and five were wounded by small arms fire southeast of Baghdad yesterday, according to initial reports from the US military.
Iraqi security officials, including an Iraqi soldier on the scene, said a local official in the town of Madaen had turned his gun on US soldiers who had gone to visit him.